Page 30 of Ryder

“Oh, and Claire…”

“Yes…”

“Don’t touch yourself. Your next orgasm is mine.”

My breath hitches. He can’t be serious. I hadn’t thought about masturbating tonight until he mentioned it. I’m way too damn tired to finger myself. But now…? Damn him.

“Claire…”

“You can’t keep me from touching myself, Ryder. You wouldn’t even know.”

“Baby, I would know. I will ask you, and you won’t be able to lie. Keep those naughty fingers out of your panties. Suck on them if you need to occupy them.”

My brows lift. He’s so dirty. “Good night, Ryder.”

“Good night, Claire.”

I end the call, plug my phone in, and set it on my nightstand. This has been the longest,wildestday of my life.

I close my eyes and will sleep to come. Luckily, my brain shuts down and lets me rest.

Chapter12

Ryder

“You’re up early,” Tiago says as he wanders into the kitchen the next morning. “Let me guess, you can’t stand being apart from your woman, so you’re heading into town to visit her at her bakery.”

I grin, not even bothering to deny it. “Yep. Then I have to be back here to get my stuff unloaded before they come to pick up the truck.”

“Ah. See? You should travel the country in an RV. Nothing to unpack.”

I shudder. My brother lives a nomadic life, traveling around the country in his motor home. He doesn’t even own a car. He finds a place he likes, stays for a while, creates masterpieces from anywhere he feels like setting up an easel, and sells his paintings to cover his expenses.

Tiago has been an artist since he was a little kid. His favorite medium is painting. And he looks the part. He has long dark hair that reaches his shoulders. He often wears it in a man bun. He marches to the beat of his own drum, and I’ve never had a problem with it. He’s four years older than me, and we’ve always gotten along.

“Have you talked to Mom and Dad yet?” I ask Tiago as I set my coffee mug in the sink. I’m afraid to do more than that and mess up Gretchen’s system in the kitchen. It’s early, so she’s not here yet.

Tiago winces. “No. I guess you haven’t either?”

“No. We should probably call them and tell them where we are.” I’m not looking forward to that.

Tiago rubs his temples. “I’ll call them this morning. I’m not sure how Dad is going to feel about us dropping everything and moving to Wilde. He left here for a reason, and though he never shared much with us, I’m betting it was a good reason.”

I nod. “Based on what we’ve learned, I bet Dad had a fairly normal childhood until his mother died. Sounds like that’s when things started to decline. Maybe Amos Wilde went downhill after his wife passed and never recovered. He chased off his own kids and left the town in a gradual decline.”

Tiago nods. “That’s my suspicion, too.”

I clap my hands together and grin. “Well, I’m going into town to flirt with my girl and win her parents over. I’ll be back in a while.”

Tiago laughs. “You’re serious about this girl.”

“Yep. She’s the one.”

“You’re twice her age.” He says this as a matter of fact without judgment.

“Yep. When you know, you know.” I shrug.

“Did you move all your stuff upstairs into the pink room?”

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